1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to firearms, and more particularly to a laser activation switch for a firearm.
2. Description of Related Art
In present art guns, the mechanism for activating a laser or other attached electronic device typically involves pressing a button, sliding a switch, using a pressure pad type switch or other type of manual switch. Thus, an additional step is needed to activate a laser aiming device or other electronic device (e.g. a flashlight for illumination, or a video camera for recordkeeping, or the like). Particularly in moments of extreme duress, this extra step complicates and/or delays the act of shooting while potentially providing an adversary a momentary advantage.
It is generally accepted convention that the shooter is not to rest his/her finger on the trigger until they are ready to shoot the firearm. This is evidenced in Rule #2 of the NRA (National Rifle Association): “Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot. When holding a gun, rest your finger on the trigger guard or along the side of the gun. Until you are actually ready to fire, do not touch the trigger.”
This “finger off the trigger until ready to shoot” convention is often misconstrued to mean that there must be no other function associated with trigger movement other than firing the gun. This logic would further extend to incorporating a switch into the trigger, as the general convention would prohibit touching the trigger to activate an auxiliary device because of possible negligent discharge. As such, current art devices all incorporate an auxiliary device from a location other than the trigger.
However, the above logic does not take into consideration that there is generally a primary laser switch attached to the laser itself that may be used for certain situations, and also neglects the need in other situations to have a quickly available laser in times of duress.
Therefore, it would be desirable to equip a firearm with multiple ways to activate the laser, to accommodate different scenarios where a soldier, law enforcement officer, or other needs to present his weapon.
For example, a first scenario is when there is a need to present the weapon and also enough time for the officer or soldier to deal with the situation by issuing orders to the suspect. The weapon is unholstered in order to “threat escalate”. The weapon is not necessarily pointed at the subject. The weapon may be then pointed at the suspect in order to further “threat escalate”. A laser pointer on the weapon may be activated (e.g. with the laser's primary switch) without touching the trigger in order to again “threat escalate”. Ultimately the weapon may be discharged.
The second scenario is that there is an immediate deadly threat and the soldier or law enforcement officer needs to return fire without delay. The weapon is fired and the laser is thereby activated with the trigger switch allowing instant accurate point shooting. In this scenario, there is little or no chance that a laser can be activated when there is a need to deliver deadly force with no delay, no time to threat escalate, no time to think, no time to issue orders. Currently, there is no device available that addresses this need.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus that automatically activates an auxiliary device, such as a laser, via the normal operation of the gun trigger.